Many remote homes or businesses
do not have gravity feed or city water available and must use some
other form of water pumping.
Solar
pumps are unique in electrical and mechanical design. Conventional
water pumps will not provide satisfactory performance in a
non-grid powered situation as they are not designed with energy
efficiency in mind.
Submersible
Pumps
Grundfos has
launched a new line of extremely efficient,
flexible and reliable off-grid water pumping
systems, called SQFlex.
As the name implies, these systems are extremely
flexible.
A wide variety of power sources can be utilized - solar, wind
and backup generator to ensure operation throughout the seasons.
Please call or
us with the specifics of your pumping application and we will be pleased
to provide a quotation for your water pumping project. The following
specification sheets are available for download:
SQFlex 2 page general
brochure
SQFlex
20 page full brochure
Solar Pumper System
This entry level water pumping package includes everything required for
a reliable and low maintenance water supply purposes. This system will
provide varying quantities of water according to your site conditions,
the principal factor being the total head - or vertical distance the
water must be pushed. The next factor is the power output of the solar
array which is a direct relationship to the amount of sun that falls
on the panels and the number of panels in an array. The lower the head,
the higher the performance. To increase the output, simply add more
solar panels!
Surface
Pumps
Surface pumps are less expensive than submersibles. These units are not
submersible and need to be protected from exposure to water and the elements.
They can draw water from a shallow well, spring, pond, river or tank
and push it uphill through long pipelines to fill a storage tank or to
pressurize it.
PV Direct
This type of water pumping is about as simple as it can get. A solar
panel coupled directly to a DC water pump, without any batteries or
inverters in between. When it’s sunny, water is pumped. These
are commonly used in agricultural applications such as irrigation or
livestock. Farmers around the world are switching to solar stock watering
and drip irrigation due to its simplicity.
Battery Powered
Often residential needs include the ability to supply water under pressure
on demand. Storage batteries are required for this application because
the pump needs to run on demand, not just when there is sunshine available.
DC pumps are more efficient than AC pumps, but AC pumps may be less
expensive and are more readily available.
Pressurization
The use of an accumulator tank allows for city-style pressurized water
that is available on demand. This allows the use of multiple fixtures
at the same time while maintaining usable pressure. Accumulator tanks
also extend the life of pressure pumps allowing them to run for several
minutes at a time to pressurize the tank instead of the rapid on-off
that is characteristic of so many water systems that are found in boats
and RV’s.
Sizing
In order to properly size a solar water pumping system, careful planning
must be adhered to. It is difficult to accurately rate a pump as the
harder a pump has to work (the higher it has to push water or the higher
the pressure) the more current it will draw. In a system with an accumulator
tank, the pump will often be drawing 3 times the current towards the
end of the pressurization cycle. We would be pleased to assist in designing
a water pumping system for you. Please call for more information. |
